A PIONEERING green programme in South Wales hopes to use old chip-shop cooking oil as car fuel.

Groundwork Bridgend and Neath Port Talbot hopes waste oil from takeaways and restaurants will result in an economic and environmentally- friendly alternative to commercial diesel.

The "bio-diesel" produced would be a cleaner fuel and would not tap the world's limited crude-oil supplies, the trust claims.

Some refuse lorries in Birmingham already run on bio- diesel, and Cornish transport company Truronian runs all its buses using the green fuel.

"It will have cost benefits for the users and environmental benefits for everyone else," said Julie Philips, Renewable Energy Project Officer at the trust. "It means that waste fat won't clog up restaurant drains and emissions into the atmosphere will be reduced."

Using cooking oil can halve motoring costs because it is cheaper than standard diesel. But it is illegal to use cooking oil as an alternative to diesel without paying a fuel tax levy.

Police have recently cracked down on the practice and anyone evading the tax could have their vehicle towed away.

But the Groundwork trust has drawn up an education programme to raise awareness about the correct disposal of cooking oil and detailing its use as a cleaner fuel.

Unemployed people from the area would be recruited to carry out the programme.

The trust has just been awarded #5,000 towards a study for its community bio-diesel programme from the Enfys: Green Spaces and Communities initiative.